Farmers insurance group
Farmers Insurance Group is a holding Company founded by Thomas E Leavey and John C Tylor in 1928 in Los Angeles, California for providing Insurance Management Services. With time as the demand for additional insurance services were felt, the Fire Insurance Exchange and the Truck Insurance Exchange were established as wholly owned subsidiaries of the Farmers Group to cater to the need of home and commercial insurance, which acts as the attorneys-in-fact for three inter-insurance exchanges. Inter-exchange consists of policyholders who exchange contracts with one another so as to provide themselves with insurance against certain losses. Today it is the countrys third largest underwriting company of private passenger auto and home insurance.
Justify Currently the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies operates in 41 states across the country providing a wide range of products from fully flexible Life Insurance products to mutual funds, Traditional Term and Whole Life Plans to Variable Annuities, all marketed by their agents. In March 2000, the Farmers Group acquired Foremost Insurance Company, headquartered in Caledonia, Michigan to start insuring of specialty products like mobile and motor homes, travel trailers, special dwellings, etc.
There are a lot of criticisms about the Farmers Insurance Group, sometimes being cited as the most-complained-about insurance company.
J.D. Power and associates 2006 Collision Repair Satisfaction Study covering customers surveyed between 2001 and 2004 on Overall Experience, Claim Settlement, Claim Representative and Claim Process and Procedures, ranks Farmers 16th among a list of 21 companies with Amica Mutual topping the list.
According to the 2005 list of complaints received by the Insurance Companied for Private Passenger Automobiles, Farmers Insurance Group had the highest number of complaints among the 101 companies compiled. The 2004 home owners complaint index published by the Texas Department of Insurance shows the complaint index of farmers at 2.78, way above the industry average of 1.00
A large number of clients, agents and loss adjusters complaints against Farmers have also been reported in the media where Ballard Vs Farmers Insurance have been one of the most prominent mold claim cases against an insure. Another such prominent case was Bell Vs farmers Insurance in 2004.
However the 2007 American Customer Satisfaction Index conducted by University of Michigan reported that the customer satisfaction with Farmers was in line with the overall Property and Casualty Industry. Further among the companies surveyed, the satisfaction level of the customers with Farmers improved the most from 2005 to 2006.
In 2005-06, the Farmers Group also won the J.D. Power award for Call Centre Customer Service Excellence.
A client of Farmers in San Bernardino, California in her testimonial accolades the service she received following a forest fire in California, in contrast to the experience of her neighbors who had insurance with other companies.
The group has now contracted an intermediary for sending and receiving hazardous insurance billings and payments electronically specially for lenders who may not have the capability of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). Their website also allows Lienholders and mortgagees to access information on mutual customers. The information includes coverage amounts, Current Lienholder/Mortgagee information and agent information. Lienholders/Mortgagees can also add, change or delete Lienholders/Mortgagees information on mutual customers there.